Reprinted  from  the  Educational  Review,  New  York,  March,  1915 

Copyright,  1915,  by  Educational  Review  Publishing  Co. 


7 


•UMMWtJCtV 


II 

HIGH  SCHOOL  TERMINOLOGY^ 


With  the  rapidly  growing  literature  of  secondary  educa- 
tion, scientific  investigations  of  its  problems  are  multiplying, 
college  courses  and  textbooks  for  these  courses  are^  becoming 
more  common,  technical  issues  are  arising,  and  some  con- 
troversies, such  as  the  one  of  vocational  education  within 
or  independent  of  our  single  system  of  high  schools,  are 
becoming  acute  and  widespread.  The  questions  of  peda- 
gogy, of  management,  of  administration  and  of  supervision 
are  complicated  ones.  Even  the  ‘‘fields”  of  secondary  edu- 
cation are  being  differentiated.  No  longer  may  we  disre- 
gard the  prevailing  confusion  in  usage  of  common  terms. 

At  a certain  stage  of  development  of  every  well-recognized 
division  of  knowledge  vague  terms,  which  suffice  for  general 
surmises  and  prognostications  and  exhortations,  have  to 
be  made  more  precise,  less  ambiguous.  Psychology,  for 
example,  for  its  own  purposes,  had  to  make  over  our  common- 
ISlguage  terms  such  as  “sensation,”  “feeling,”  “image,” 
and  “perception”  into  terms  with  specialized  and  un- 
ambiguous yet  simple  connotations.  In  no  other  way  could 
scientific  investigation  of  such  mental  processes  and  formu- 
lation of  the  laws  proceed.  Such  of  course  must  be  the  case 

^ The  terms  below,  with  precise  meanings  given  in  each  case,  were  pre- 
sented at  the  general  session  of  the  National  Commission  on  the  Reorganiza- 
tion of  Secondary  Education  at  Richmond,  Va.,  February  25,  1914.  They 
have  also  since  then  been  submitted  for  criticism  to  every  state  superintendent 
of  education  in  the  United  States.  Sixteen  of  these  men,  or  high  school 
experts  officially  designated  by  them  to  represent  the  attitude  of  their  office, 
were  kind  enough  to  send  me  detailed  criticisms  and  suggestions  of  various 
sorts.  Some  of  these  I have  incorporated,  others  I have  not  been  able  to 
use,  altho  in  every  case  I have  profited  by  the  good  point  raised.  Most 
of  the  writers  exprest  the  intention  of  adopting  all  or  a great  portion  of  the 
terms  as  suggested  below.  It  is  hoped,  and  indeed  definitely  planned  for 
these  formulations  to  bring  to  a head  certain  genuine  issues.  The  purpose 
is  accomplished  upon  either  the  definite  acceptance  or  the  definite  rejection 
of  the  particular  terms. 


High  school  terminology 


229 


with  the  fundamental  terms  in  the  literature  of  secondary- 
education. 

Thus  far  it  has  not  been  quite  disastrous  to  use  inter- 
changeably “vocationar’  education  and  “industriar’  edu- 
cation, or  “college  preparatory”  and  “cultural”  curricu- 
lums;  but  henceforth  such  distinctions  are  absolutely  es- 
sential. Otherwise  even  our  statutes  will  continue  to  have 
little  meaning,  or  will  continue  to  be  open  to  several  inter- 
pretations. As  it  is,  in  most  recent  legislation  regarding 
vocational  education  we  find  “school,”  “department,’ 
“curriculum”  and  “course  of  study”  used  interchangeably 
or  each  in  different  senses,  and  the  real  issues  in  question 
most  hopelessly  confused. 

In  the  more  general  literature  writers  use  the  term 
“curriculum”  in  several,  and  “course  of  study”  in  at  least 
three  distinct  senses  in  printed  announcements  of  “courses 
of  study”  and  in  other  school  reports.  The  collegiate 
terms  “department,”  “major,”  “minor,”  and  “unit” 
have  been  vaguely  adopted  in  high  school  literature;  but 
in  the  future,  as  high  school  administration  and  pedagogy 
become  more  securely  based  on  scientific  studies  of  high 
school  problems,  such  terms  must  mean  in  the  language  on 
intercommunication  of  high  schools  and  colleges  what  they 
mean  actually  in  high  school  practise.  Colleges  think  of 
high  school  work  in  terms  of  their  own  practises  with  refer- 
ence to  problems  of  a department,  curriculum,  or  major 
and  minor.  The  principles  of  entrance  requirements  will 
finally  be  written  cooperatively  by  joint  committees  of 
high  schools  and  colleges  after  this  common  language  shall 
have  been  established. 

Again  “curriculum  thinking”  is  just  coming  into  the  pro- 
fessional consciousness  of  high  school  principals  and  teachers. 
This  is  a sign  of  professional  progress  which  will  from  now 
on  develop  rapidly.  One  reason  for  such  vagueness  and 
confusion  in  usage  of  the  terms  “curriculum,”  “course  of 
study”  and  “programme  of  studies,”  as  all  who  study  this 
literature  now  find  to  be  so  common,  is  that  there  are  prac- 
tically no  genuine  curriculums,  differentiated  with  refer- 


-3  73  , 
J 


230  LO^,  X Educational  Review  [March 

ence  to  distinctive  educational  functioning  of  each  such 
organization  of  studies.  Hence,  looking  only  at  our  present 
practise,  we  actually  can  not  distinguish  in  high  school 
administration  between  programmes  of  study  and  curricu- 
lums  (as  defined  below)  on  the  one  hand,  or  between  genuine 
curriculums  and  certain  arbitrarily  grouped  “allied”  or 
.Q  sequentially  related  courses. 

^ It  is  evident  and  inevitable  that  the  following  system  of 
terminology  contemplates  an  ideal  scheme  for  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  entire  public  school  system.  The  following  is 
a dogmatic  sketch  of  its  general  architectural  features. 

First  there  would  be  the  kindergarten  of  one  year  with 
a plan  of  supervision  of  this  coordinately  with  the  first 
grade  of  the  elementary  school  described  below.  This  ideal 
kindergarten  must  by  all  means  retain  all  its  present  good 
features,  and  under  this  proposed  plan  of  supervision  it 
must  also  effect  a combination  of  those  good  native  ele- 
ments with  those  elements  and  methods  of  the  Montessori 
system  which  can  be  made  adaptable  to  our  American  chil- 
dren under  American  conditions. 


Following  this  we  must  have  an  elementary  school  of 
six  years.  The  primary  purpose  of  this  proposed  national 
unit  must  be  and  will  be  more  succinctly  statable  in  terms 
of  child  life  and  child  nature.  This  smaller  unit,  for  curricu- 
lum purposes,  will  lend  itself  more  readily  to  characteriza- 
tion in  terms  of  educational  values  and  distinguishable  func- 
tion. The  two  distinguishit^  g characteristics  will  be  some- 
thing like  the  following:  First,  a normal  deftly  planned 

environment  for  the  preadolescent  child  to  grow — not 
memorize — ^in;  second,  a school  whose  secondary  purpose 
will  be  to  make  the  child  in  this  prepubescent  period  a lover 
of  reading;  a master  of  the  fundamentals  of  arithmetic,  so 
that  these  naturally  unfatiguing  and  naturally  enjoyable 
operations  will  become  an  automatic  and  dependable  part 
of  his  thinking  (easier  when  we  know  better  how  to  do  it 
and  when  we  have  no  adolescent  problem  in  the  same  en- 
vironment to  confuse  the  issue);  and  one  who  can  write 


High  school  terminology 


231 


1915] 

legibly — perhaps  typewrite — and  who,  by  a simplified  (!) 
method  can  spell  accurately. 

Then  would  come  our  intermediate  or  junior  high  school 
of,  in  most  cases,  three  years.  Here  our  work  must  resemble 
that  of  the  high  school  proper,  but  with  one  important 
difference : it  must  retain  the  best  grammar  grades  methods, 
personalized  instruction,  and  in  no  case  attempt  more 
than  partially  vocationalized  training  in  its  partially  differ- 
entiated curriculums. 

Following  this  would  come  our  senior  high  school  of  three, 
four  or  five  more  years,  the  curriculum  extension  de- 
pending upon  the  size  and  character  of  the  community. 
This  branch  of  the  public  school  system  will  be  the  great 
socializing  and  vocational,  as  well  as  the  chief  cultural 
institution  of  our  democracy.  We  are  probably  at  the 
present  time  arriving  at  that  stage  of  our  educational  de- 
velopment, so  far  as  state  systems  of  education  are  concerned, 
when  it  may  be  wise  to  incorporate  into  the  local  systems, 
by  state  financial  encouragement  if  necessary,  the  hundreds 
of  struggling  private  colleges  of  the  country  which,  hampered 
by  lack  of  proper  equipment,  are  doing  at  best  but  a high 
grade  of  the  type  of  work  contemplated  for  the  senior  high 
schools. 

Coupled  with  and  in  some  vital  way  affiliated  with  this 
great  differentiated  public  high  school  system  will  be  our 
national  system  of  school  extension  including  part-time 
schools  of  every  variety,  continuations  for  every  class  and 
for  every  age,  evening  schools  equipt  and  administered 
as  effectively  as  the  public  day  schools,  and  vacation  schools, 
all-the-year-schools,  to  naturalize  us  to  national  as  well 
as  individual  education  which  has  no  end  and  should  have 
no  end,  and,  when  properly  adjusted  and  adapted  and  varied, 
no  intermittance.  With  all  this  instructional  and  training 
function  of  the  high  school  thus  extended  it  will  be  but  a 
natural  step  and  an  easy  one  for  the  high  school  to  take  over 
from  the  universities  the  “community  service”  work  of 
elementary  character — which  consumes  the  time  of  expen- 
sive experts  on  university  staffs  now. 


232 


Educational  Review 


[March 


It  will  be  seen  clearly  that  genuine  reorganization  of 
public  education  contemplates  an  educational  condition 
in  which  it  may  be  possible  for  real  universities  to  exist 
independently  of  the  secondary  features  by  which  they  seek 
now,  necessarily,  to  attract  students.  It  is  more  in  keeping 
for  the  high  schools  to  render  service  “directly  conducive 
to  the  general  good”  as  is  the  prevailing  elementary  univer- 
sity “extension  service”  of  water  analysis,  popular  advice 
in  sanitary  and  other  forms  of  engineering,  of  agriculture 
and  public  health;  and  “to  give  instruction  in  the  arts 
and  facts  of  civilized  Hfe;”  and  leave  the  universities  proper 
free  from  these  temporizing  but  laudable  contributions  to 
the  ordinary  needs  of  the  community,  and  by  more  general 
assent  definitely  committed  to  the  cause  of  “the  higher 
intellectual  interests  and  strivings  of  mankind.” 

Terminology,  left  alone,  reflects  practise.  Refined,  even 
somewhat  artibrarily,  it  may  serve  to  suggest  a better 
practise.  With  this  in  mind,  and  in  order  to  provoke  fur- 
ther discussion  and  criticism  the  following  commonly  used 
terms  are  defined : 

“Secondary  education”  has  for  its  particular  sphere  the 
general  information  and  training  in  the  facts  and  arts  of 
civilized  Hfe.  It  may  be  roughly  distinguished  from  ele- 
mentary education  as  being  primarily  concerned,  on  the 
side  of  subject-matter,  with  the  differentiated  character 
of  the  various  subjects  of  instruction,  and  from  collegiate 
education  by  the  essentially  elementary  and  general  charac- 
ter of  these  differentiated  fields  of  knowledge.  On  the  side 
of  method — secondary  education  may  be  distinguished  from 
elementary  in  that  it  involves  primarily  an  appeal  to  the 
pupil’s  appreciation,  judgment,  and  sense  of  relative  values, 
and  places  its  greatest  emphasis  upon  self-revelation  and 
trained  individuality  rather  than  upon  the  “organization 
of  instincts  and  impulses  of  children  into  working  interests 
and  tools,  the  formal  aspects  and  instruments  of  edu- 
cation. In  method — secondary  education  is  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  collegiate  education  in  that  the  former 
* Dewey. 


1915] 


High  school  terminology 


233 


wholly  excludes  and  the  latter  only  includes  subjects  in- 
volving relative  maturity  of  mind  and  of  treatment.  The 
latter  requires  a mental  attitude  of  detachment  from  the 
materials  dealt  with,  whereas  in  method  high  school  teaching 
requires  the  personalization  and  evaluating  of  content  of 
studies.^ 

“High  school”  is  that  part  of  the  public  school  system 
in  which  are  administered  courses  organized  into  one  or 
more  cultural  or  vocational  curriculums  (or  either  or  both), 
entrance  to  which  ordinarily  presupposes  the  completion 
of  an  elementary  curriculum  of  six,  seven,  eight  or  nine 
years,  or  which  may  have  for  entrance  requirements, 
instead  of  such  scholastic  standards,  the  equivalents  in  age, 
maturity  of  development  and  vocational  needs  of  entering 
pupils.  A high  school  may  extend  its  courses  and  its  cur- 
riculums over  periods  of  four,  five,  six,  seven  or  eight  years. 
The  existence  of  a high  school  implies  in  any  case,  pupils, 
teachers  and  courses  organized  into  one  or  more  curriculums, 
and  an  institution  whose  internal  government  and  adminis- 
tration is  distinct  from  and  coordinate  with  that  of  the  ele- 
mentary school  embracing  the  first  six  years. 

“Junior  high  school”  is  that  portion  of  the  public  school 
work  above  the  sixth  elementary  grade,  including  the  7th 
and  8th  or  the  7th,  8th,  and  9th  grades,  which  is  organized 

^ One  of  my  kind  critics,  State  Supt.  H.  C.  Morrison,  of  New  Hampshire, 
suggests  the  necessity  of  a distinction  between  “education”  and  ‘‘training,” 
looking  upon  “education”  in  general  as  being  “an  adaptive  process  in  the 
individual,  making  for  individual  growth  and  development  with  the  ultimate 
object  in  view  of  adaptability;  and  meaning  by  ‘training’  the  specific  drill 
and  habit  organization  which  results  in  specific  skill  in  a particular  occupa- 
tion. We  already  have  a good  many  curriculums  and  courses  in  high  schools, 
and  we  probably  shall  have  more,  in  which  the  purpose  is  essentially  in- 
dustrial or  vocational  education  as  such,  that  is  to  say,  the  development  of 
vocational  adaptability.  We  have  also  in  existence  a good  many  independent 
schools  of  the  industrial  type  in  which  the  object  is  essentially  and  specifically 
training,  that  is,  the  development  of  skill  thru  the  organization  of  habits. 
Most  of  the  work  described  (in  the  terminology  list)  is,  as  a matter  of  fact, 
probably  essentially  ‘educative’  work.  Some  of  it,  as  for  instance  courses 
in  stenography  and  typewriting  in  the  high  school,  is  essentially  ‘training.’ 
As  our  ideas  clarify  on  the  matter,  we  shall  undoubtedly  come  to  have  many 
schools  toward  the  end  of  the  adolescent  period,  or  after  its  close,  devoted 
specifically  to  industrial  ‘training’  purposes.” 


234 


Educational  Review 


[March 


tinder  a distinctive  internal  management  with  a special 
principal  and  teacher,  and  which  provides  for  departmental 
teaching,  partially  differentiated  curriculums,  pre-vocational 
instruction,  and  a system  of  educational  advice  and  guidance.^ 
“Senior  high  school”  is  that  portion  of  the  public  school 
work  above  the  9th  grade  which  is  organized  under  a dis- 
tinctive internal  management  of  special  principal  and  teacher 
and  which  includes  in  its  curriculums  instruction  covering 
three,  four  or  five  years  beyond  the  junior  high  school, 
and  whose  minimum  requirement  for  graduation  is  the  com- 
pletion of  courses  to  the  amount  of  fifteen  credit  units 
above  the  eighth  grade. 

“Junior  college”  is  that  portion  of  the  public  school  work 
which  embraces  the  years  and  courses  of  instruction  beyond 
the  12th  grade,  and  which  may  be  considered  as  equivalent 
to  the  corresponding  work  on  the  first  two  years  of  a stand- 
ardized college  curriculum. 

KINDS  OK  HIGH  SCHOOD  EDUCATION 
Only  rough  and  arbitrary  distinctions  may  be  made  be- 
tween general  and  special,  or  vocational  education.  These 
distinctions  have  for  the  present  purpose  only  adminis- 
trative, not  pedagogical  value.  Educationally  at  every 
point  any  particular  “course”  has  both  elements  which 
blend  into  each  other.  “Curriculums,”  however,  must  be 
constructed  with  some  dominating  emphasis  upon  a dis- 
tinguishing purpose. 

“General  education”  (for  this  administrative  purpose)  is 
education  in  which  the  dominating  emphasis  is  placed  upon 
equipping  the  individual  for  effective  participation  in  the 
esthetic,  intellectual  and  other  cultural  activities  of  civilized 

^ There  is  in  every  state  a large  number  of  school  systems  in  which  one 
or  more  years  of  high  school  instruction  of  an  academic  character  is  added 
to  the  grade  work.  These  grade  extensions  should  not  be  called  high  schools. 
We  might  possibly  call  them  “partial  high  schools”  or  “grade  extension 
schools”  or  “incomplete  high  schools.”  They  should  not  be  called  junior 
high  schools  as  they  have  not  the  requisite  administrative  and  pedagogical 
distinctiveness.  In  the  event  of  finding  no  suitable  generic  term  we  may 
call  them  simply  one-year,  two-year  or  three-year  high  schools,  or  perhaps 
nine-grade,  ten-grade  or  eleven-grade  schools. 


1915] 


High  school  terminology 


235 


life,  and  for  the  appreciation  of  the  products  of  such  activi- 
ties, and  which  is  deliberately  planned  with  reference  to  the 
postponement  of  any  specialized  training  or  information 
bearing  upon  the  particular  duties  and  opportunities  of 
a recognized  vocation. 

“Vocational  education”^  (for  this  administrative  purpose) 
is  any  education  the  immediate  and  definite  purpose  of  which 
is  to  fit  for  profitable  employment  by  providing  special 
training  or  skill  in  and  information  concerning  a given 
vocation. 

“ Pre- vocational  education”  includes  all  the  instruction 
and  training  of  the  years  immediately  following  the  first 
six  years  of  elementary  education  which  may  be  distinguished 
from  the  general,  or  academic  education  of  these  same  years 
by  the  fact  that  in  content  and  method  it  is  designed  to 
prepare  the  pupils  for  carrying  on  the  operations  and  pro- 
cesses common  to  groups  of  fundamental  vocations.  It  is 
distinguished  from  “vocational  education”  in  the  limita- 
tions in  definiteness  of  its  special  training  and  in  the  only 
partially  differentiated  curriculums  provided. 

“Industrial  education”  is,  in  any  instance,  that  form  of 
vocational  education  which  is  designed  to  fit  for  a par- 
ticular trade,  craft,  or  other  wage-earning  pursuit,  including 
the  occupation  of  girls  and  women  carried  on  in  stores, 
work  shops  and  other  establishments,  but  excluding  house- 
hold service  (see  below). 

“Agricultural  education”  is  that  form  of  vocational 
education  which  is  designed  to  fit  for  the  vocations  con- 
nected with  the  tillage  of  the  soil,  the  care  of  domestic 
animals,  forestry  and  other  wage-earning  or  productive  work 
on  the  farm. 

® This  group  of  definitions  represents  an  attempt  to  modify,  supplement 
and  adapt  some  of  the  terms  recently  embodied  in  legislative  enactments, 
concerning  vocational  education  in  Massachusetts,  Indiana,  Pennsylvania 
and  several  other  states.  The  chief  difference  is  that  on  the  present  basis 
vocational  education  is  made  broad  enough  to  include,  in  addition  to  the 
types  of  training  referred  to  in  the  above  statutes,  commercial  curriculums 
and  teacher-training  curriculums — equally  as  important,  truly  as  vocational 
i n character,  and  as  clearly  demanded  of  high  schools. 


236 


Educational  Review 


[March 


“Domestic  education”  is  that  form  of  vocational  educa- 
tion which  is  designed  to  fit  for  vocations  connected  with  the 
household,  such  as  sewing,  millinery,  dressmaking  or 
nursing. 

“Commercial  education”  is  that  form  of  vocational  edu- 
cation which  is  designed  to  fit  for  any  kind  of  clerical  duty 
connected  with  the  operation  of  commercial  establishments, 
such  £is  bookkeeping,  stenography  and  typewriting  and 
clerkships ; and  also  any  form  of  education  of  the  same  years 
which  is  designed  to  equip  pupils  for  secretarial  positions, 
or  to  become  salesmen,  business  directors,  or  general  trans- 
actors of  business  on  their  own  account. 

“Teacher-training  education”  in  “high  schools”  is  that 
form  of  vocational  education  which  is  designed  to  fit  for  the 
profession  of  teaching  and  classroom  management  in  rural 
schools,  and  which,  furthermore,  is  definitely  planned  for 
that  group  of  high  school  pupils  who  plan  to  teach  immedi- 
ately upon  graduation. 

“Independent  industrial, agricultural, domestic, or  teacher- 
training high  school”®  is  an  organization  of  pupils, 
teachers,  and  correlated  courses  designed  primarily  to  pro- 
vide industrial,  agricultural,  domestic,  commercial,  or  teacher- 
training education  and  which  is  administered  by  a dis- 
tinctive management  independent  of  the  management  of 
the  high  school. 

“ Industrial,  agricultural,  domestic,  commercial,  or  teacher- 
training curriculum”  is  in  each  instance  courses  of 
secondary  grade  and  character  organized  and  clearly  de- 
signed for  the  vocational  needs  of  a particular  group  of 
high  school  pupils,  but  administered  and  supervised  by  the 
same  management  that  administers  the  “general”  curricu- 
lum of  the  high  school. 

“Evening  class”  is  an  independent  industrial,  agricul- 
tural, domestic,  commercial,  or  teacher-training  high  school,. 

® This  type  of  public  high  school  (which  does  not  exist  in  the  United 
States)  is  here  defined  so  as  to  bring  out  clearly  a legislative  issue  now  critical- 
in  some  states.  The  paragraph  should  be  contrasted  with  the  one  immediately 
following,  which  describes  more  nearly  the  existing  state  types  of  high  schools. 


1915] 


High  school  terminology 


237 


or  in  any  of  these  curriculums  of  a high  school  is  a class 
receiving  such  training  as  can  be  taken  by  persons  already 
employed  during  the  working  day.  This  instruction  may 
be  general j or  it  may  deal  with  the  subject-matter  of  the 
day  employment  and  be  so  carried  on  as  to  relate  to  the  day’s 
employment,  or  it  may  be  training  designed  to  equip  the 
individual  for  a different  kind  of  occupation  from  the  one 
in  which  he  at  the  time  is  engaged. 

“Part-time  class”  is  an  independent  industrial,  agri- 
cultural, domestic,  commercial,  or  teacher-training  high 
school,  or  in  any  such  curriculum  in  a high  school,  is  a 
vocational  or  general  class  for  persons  giving  a part  of  their 
working  time  to  profitable  employment  and  receiving  in- 
struction complimentary  to  the  practical  work  carried  on 
in  such  employment.  Such  persons  must  give  a part  of 
each  working  day,  week,  or  longer  period  to  the  part-time 
class  work  during  the  period  in  which  it  is  in  session. 

“Continuation  school”  (besides  including  the  types  of 
education  of  “evening  class”  and  of  “part-time”)  refers 
also  to  any  courses  of  “general”  as  distinguished  from 
“vocational”  character  which  may  be  offered  by  publicly 
employed  school  officers  and  teachers  to  persons  not  enrolled 
as  pupils  in  the  day  high  school,  nor  in  independent  voca- 
tional schools  as  defined  above. 

TERMINOLOGY  TOR  INTERNAL  ADMINISTRATION  AND  SUPER- 
VISION OF  HIGH  SCHOOLS^ 

“Programme  of  studies”  refers  to  all  the  high  school 
subjects  offered  in  a given  school  without  reference  to  any 
principle  of  organizing  these  subjects  and  courses  into 
curriculums. 

“Schedule  of  classes”  is  the  daily  and  weekly  arrangement 

^ The  terms  “programme  of  studies,”  “curriculum”  and  “course  of 
study”  have  been  defined  by  the  Committee  on  College  Entrance  Require- 
ments (Report  p.  42).  With  the  change  of  “course  of  study”  to  “course,” 
thus  avoiding  the  natural  and  frequent  confusion  of  the  term  with  “curri- 
culum,” and  with  modifications  in  phraseology  and  some  further  restrictions 
in  connotations,  the  general  distinction  approved  by  this  committee  with 
reference  to  these  two  items  has  been  here  preserved. 


Educational  Review 


[March 


238 

of  classes  showing  the  time  of  day,  place  and  frequency  of 
meeting  and  the  instructor  in  charge  of  the  course. 

“Curriculum”  (course  of  study)  is  any  systematic  and 
schematic  arrangement  of  courses  which  extends  thru  a 
number  of  years  and  which  leads  to  a certificate  or  diploma, 
and  which  is  planned  for  any  clearly  differentiated  group 
of  high  school  pupils.  Administratively  a “curriculum” 
represents  an  arrangement  of  courses  within  which  a student 
is  restricted  in  his  choice  of  work  leading  to  graduation. 
A four-year  curriculum  should  represent  not  more  than  16 
(and  not  less  than  15)  credit  units  of  work. 

“Allied  group of  “courses”  refers  to  studies  whose 
subject  matter  is  closely  related,  as  for  example  two  or  more 
courses  in  physical  science  or  biological  science  or  agricul- 
ture or  language.  “Allied  group”  of  “high  school  subjects” 
suggests  such  large  combinations  (often  helpful  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  group  requirements,  majors  and  minors, 
and  as  a guide  in  the  assignment  of  work  to  teachers)  as 
the  sciences,  the  humanities,  the  fine  arts  and  the  prac- 
tical arts. 

‘ ‘ Sequential  group  ’ ’ of  courses  refers  to  courses  in  a given 
high  school  subject  or  in  closely  related  high  school  subjects 
which  are  planned  for  certain  pupil  groups  that  are  to  con- 
tinue electing  courses  within  this  group  thru  several  dif- 
ferent “school  classes.”  These  courses  are  so  administered 
and  taught  that,  because  of  the  logical  relationships,  graded 
difficulty  and  partial  curriculum  purpose,  each  course  in 
the  group  implies  the  next,  credits  for  any  often  being  con- 
tingent upon  completion  of  the  group. 

‘ ‘ Department  ’ ’ in  high  school  work  is  any  administrative 
unit  in  the  assignment  of  subjects,  of  allied  groups  of  sub- 
jects, or  of  courses  to  teachers. 

, “High  school  subject”  refers  to  any  one  of  the  well-rec- 
ognized divisions  of  knowledge,  one  or  more  courses  or 

® As  there  are  few  distinctive  curriculum  differentiations  as  yet  in  high 
schools  of  any  kind,  and  many  partial  curriculums,  "allied  group"  and 
“sequential  group”  of  courses  are  useful  descriptive  terms  for  this  transition 
period  in  the  evolution  of  high  school  curriculums  and  are  here  defined. 


1915] 


High  school  terminology 


239 


half  courses  in  which  are  offered  in  the  programme  of  studies, 
such  as  history  or  German. 

“Course”  is  the  quantity,  kind  and  organization  of 
subject  matter  of  instruction  in  any  high  school  subject, 
offered  within  a definite  period  of  time  for  which  a credit 
unit  or  a fraction  of  a credit  unit  toward  graduation  is 
granted,  as  second  year  hatin  or  first  year  algebra. 

“Credit  unit”  represents  a year’s  study  in  any  high 
school  subject  constituting  approximately  a quarter  of  a 
full  year’s  work  of  a high  school  pupil.  With  a four-year 
high  school  curriculum  as  a basis  a school  year’s  work  of 
from  36  to  40  weeks  is  assumed,  and’ it  is  further  assumed 
that  a school  year’s  work  in  any  subject  will  approximate 
120  sixty-minute  periods,  and  that  any  course  will  be  pur- 
sued for  four  or  five  periods  per  week. 

“Extra  credit”  represents  the  satisfactory  completion  of 
those  additional  requirements  for  graduation  for  which 
“credit  units”  are  not  granted,  as  for  example  is  often 
the  case  with  vocal  music,  gymnasium  work  or  hand- 
writing. 

“Outside  credits”  refers  to  the  official  school  recognition 
of  work  done  by  pupils  outside  the  school  building  and  out 
of  school  hours. 

“Unit  of  instruction”  applies  to  those  relatively  limited 
number  of  larger  and  more  important  topic-divisions 
(fundamental  as  distinguished  from  accessory  topics)  into 
which  the  subject  matter  of  a given  course  may  be  broken 
up.  These  “units  of  instruction”  usually  represent  di- 
visions of  the  course  whose  treatment  extends  over  a half- 
dozen  or  a dozen  or  even  more  class  periods,  depending 
partly  upon  the  character  of  the  subject  matter  itself  and 
partly  upon  the  individual  teacher’s  preference.^ 

“Graduation”  means  ordinarily  the  completion  of  courses 
to  the  amount  of  15  credit  units  beyond  the  eighth  grade 
and  the  fulfillment  of  all  other  requirements  relating  to 

* This  unit  of  instruction,  generally  a larger  division  of  school  work 
that  the  recitation  and  smaller  than  the  course,  is  both  an  administrative 
and  a pedagogical  unit,  and  should  in  every  case  be  determined  beforehand 
thru  cooperation  of  teacher  and  supervisor. 


240 


Educational  Review 


[March 


standards  of  scholarship,  observance  of  school  discipline 
and  standards  of  morality  generally. 

“School  year”  is  the  normal  time  required  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  courses  amounting  to  four  credit  units  or 
their  equivalent. 

“Class  period”  means  the  time,  varying  from  40  to  120 
minutes,  spent  continuously  upon  one  course  under  the 
teacher’s  active  supervision  in  classroom  work. 

“Subject  class”  means  any  group  of  pupils  who  recite 
or  in  any  other  way  work  together  cooperatively  during 
a class  period  upon  any  high  school  subject  under  the  im- 
mediate direction  of  a class  teacher. 

SYSTEMS  OT  ADMINISTERING  COURSES 

“Elective  system”  is  the  plan  of  administering  the  choice 
of  subjects  and  courses  whereby  each  pupil  individually 
may  receive  from  the  principal  or  a designated  teacher, 
guidance  in  his  selection  of  courses,  but  may  not  be  restricted 
in  this  selection. 

“Group  system”  is  the  plan  of  administration  of  pupils’ 
choices  of  subjects  and  courses  which  places  restrictions 
upon  these  elections  of  courses,  generally  making  selections 
contingent  upon  the  remainder  of  the  work  planned  for  the 
given  school  year  or  other  years,  these  prescriptions  and 
alternatives  being  pointed  out  in  the  schedule  of  classes 
or  otherwise  by  some  system  of  advice  and  guidance  made 
clear  to  the  students.  As  with  the  elective  system  the  group 
system  allows  for  individual  combination  courses. 

“Curriculum  system”  implies  the  organization  of  courses 
into  distinctive  curriculums  definitely  planned  with  refer- 
ence, not  to  each  individual’s  personal  needs  primarily, 
but  with  reference  to  the  different  educational  requirements 
of  special  groups  of  pupils,  curriculums  based  upon  social 
rather  than  upon  psychological  considerations.  This  sys- 
tem emphasizes  chiefly  the  election  of  curriculums  only, 
allowing  some  leeway  within  each  curriculum,  but  allowing 
little  freedom  for  individual  choice  of  studies  belonging 
to  other  curriculums  than  the  one  to  which  the  pupil  has 
been  assigned. 


1915] 


High  school  terjtinology 


241 


“High  school  major”  means  three  credit  units  done  in 
sequence  in  any  high  school  subject  as  English,  Latin, 
German,  history,  mathematics ; or  three  credit  units  in  some 
“allied  group”  such  as  physical  science,  biological  science, 
social  science,  manual  training,  household  arts,  or  fine 
arts. 

“High  school  minor”  means  two  credit  units  of  work 
similar  in  character  to  that  described  for  a major. 

“Pupil”  rather  than  “student”  or  “scholar”  designates 
boys  and  girls  enrolled  in  elementary  and  high  schools. 

“School  class”  refers  to  that  group  of  high  school  pupils 
whose  school  status,  based  upon  their  school  marks  and 
promotion  records,  is  officially  defined  with  reference  to 
their  year  of  graduation,  as  senior  class. 

“Grade”  (with  the  year  9th,  loth,  etc.,  attached)  as 
loth  grade,  is  used  to  distinguish  the  “school  class”  of 
high  school  pupils,  rather  than  “freshman,”  “sophomore,” 
“junior,”  and  “senior.” 

“Marks”  (not  “grades”)  means  the  qualitative  estimates 
of  the  pupil’s  work  in  courses  which  constitute  the  official 
school  record. 

“Honorable  dismissal”^®  refers  to  conduct  and  character 
only,  and  is  never  to  be  given  unless  the  pupil’s  standing 
as  to  conduct  and  character  is  such  as  to  entitle  him  to 
continuance  in  the  school  granting  the  dismissal.  In  this 
statement  full  mention  should  also  be  made  of  any  proba- 
tion, suspension  or  other  temporary  restriction  imposed 
for  bad  conduct,  the  period  of  which  restriction  is  not  over 
when  the  papers  of  dismissal  are  issued. 

“Statement  of  record”  refers  to  the  recorded  results  of 
a pupil’s  work  in  the  classroom,  and  in  every  instance 
contains  all  the  important  facts  pertaining  to  the  pupil’s 
admission,  classification  and  scholarship. 

The  definitions  of  these  last  two  terms  are  adaptations  of  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  sixth  conference  of  the  National  Conference  Committee  on 
Standards  of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools,  February  19,  1913,  as  is, 
substantially,  the  definition  of  “credit  unit”  given  above. 


242 


Educational  Review 


[March 


EXPI.ANATORY  COMMENTS  ON  THE  TERMINOLOGY 

definitions 

All  the  terms,  with  the  obvious  exceptions,  “secondary 
education”  and  “unit  of  instruction,”  are  defined  in  an 
administrative  sense  and  do  not  have  primarily  pedagogical 
distinctions  in  view.  Apologies  are  frankly  offered  for 
venturing  to  define  secondary  education  qualitatively.  It 
seemed  necessary  to  preface  the  other  terms  with  some  such 
rough  characterization  of  the  field. 

“High  school”  is  defined  above  broadly  so  as  to  include 
all  education  of  public  character  which  may  be  of  secondary 
grade,  whether  vocational  or  general,  composite  or  special, 
junior  or  senior. 

“General”  and  “vocational”  education,  having  refer- 
ence to  curriculum  education,  and  not  to  the  character  of 
any  isolated  course  or  subject,  are  distinguished  primarily  as 
to  immediate  purpose,  the  former  offered  mainly  for  those 
(about  one-fourth  of  the  high  school  enrollment)  who 
have  expectations  of  further  education  of  more  advanced 
grade ; the  latter  offered  for  those  who  either  before  or  upon 
high  school  graduation  definitely  plan  to  engage  in  some 
wage-earning  pursuit,  and  also  offered  to  attract  still  others 
who  are  not  enrolled  at  all.  There  is  no  implication  here 
that  general  education  has  no  vocational  value,  algebra  for 
example,  nor  that  vocational  education  has  no  cultural 
value,  an  agricultural  curriculum  for  example;  but  that  in 
a curriculum  with  the  former  as  its  emphasis  the  pupil 
is  clearly  postponing  specific  vocational  training,  and  in 
the  latter  type  of  curriculum  he  is  consciously  preparing 
to  enter  immediately  upon  it. 

One  state  superintendent  writes:  “l  approve  of  all  your  terms  ex- 

cept youi  too  broad  definition  of  high  school.  It  seems  to  me  we  should 
limit  the  term  high  school  to  the  institution  that  has  been  so  long  regarded 
as  the  standard,  based  upon  an  eight-year  elementary  course  and  lasting 
four  years.” 

On  the  contrary  I have  here  taken  the  position  that  nobody  does  right 
now  know  how  to  characterize  the  “standard  institution,”  and  that  the 
term  “high  school”  may  now  well  become  a generic  term,  as  “college”  to  an 
extent  has  become  in  the  literature  of  university  catalogues. 


1915]  High  school  terminology  243 

i 

The  various  kinds  of  vocational  education  of  secondary 
grade  are  defined  so  as  to  represent  them  as  equally  voca- 
tional and  as  thus  coordinate  in  function.  Enrollments 
in  these  curriculums  reported  in  Bulletin  No.  22  for  1912 
of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  justify  also  this  coordinate 
ranking.  An  examination  of  several  hundred  printed  high 
school  “courses  of  study,”  “curriculums”  according  to 
our  proposed  terminology,  seems  to  indicate  the  prevailing 
tendency  of  large  high  schools  to  organize  their  programmes 
of  study  into  substantially  the  five  curriculums  defined 
above,  altho  there  are  more  than  five  terms  for  the  corre- 
lated instruction  offered. 

The  terms  distinguishing  between  “independent  voca- 
tional schools”  and  the  same  kind  of  education  in  the  form 
of  a vocational  curriculum  in  a high  school  of  the  standard 
type  are  so  defined  as  to  make  clear  the  difference  between 
the  prevaihng  “single  system”  of  high  schools  and  the  pro- 
posed “dual  system”  seriously  advocated  in  some  states, 
as  Illinois,  at  the  present  time.  Even  the  legal  terminology 
thus  far  of  the  different  states  that  have  past  legislation  is 
confusing  on  this  point.  In  many  educational  discussions 
the  administrative  and  the  pedagogical  issues  involved 
are  anything  but  clear.  The  average  layman,  for  example, 
identifying  high  school  with  the  general  curriculum  will 
not  think  of  other  possible  curriculums  for  the  same  high 
school.  He  will  naturally  think  that  a new  kind  of  school 
must  come  into  existence  for  the  new  function.  Seeing 
the  contrasting  pedagogical  functions  of  the  two  kinds  of 
instruction  proposed  he  assumes  that  with  this  difference 
must  exist  also  the  administratived  istinction — in  short, 
that  different  schools  must  be  administered.  The  termi- 
nology items  seek  to  show  the  equal  possibility  of  thinking 
the  two  kinds  of  curriculums,  general  and  vocational, 
within  or  without  the  present  system  of  public  schools, 
while  admitting  in  either  case  their  pedagogical  distinctive- 
ness. In  other  words  they  seek  to  avoid  the  confusion  of 
using  “school”  and  “department”  or  “curriculum”  or 
“division”  as  identical  or  equivalent. 


244 


Educational  Review 


[March 


The  terms  relating  to  matters  of  internal  school  manage- 
ment, supervision  and  especially  reporting  and  formulating 
of  policies,  are  proposed  with  a view  to  clearing  up  a certain 
evident  confusion  in  the  minds  of  many  high  school  principals. 
It  should  be  noted  that  “subject  class”  and  “school  period” 
are  here  so  defined  as  to  refer  either  to  the  old  “recitation” 
type  of  class  meeting,  or  to  the  laboratory  period,  or  to  the 
class  period  (single  or  double)  in  which  a good  portion  of 
the  time  may  be  devoted  to  supervised  study  or  other  partial 
substitutes  for  this  traditional  activity  of  formal  reciting. 
It  might  be  a good  thing,  perhaps,  to  drop  the  term  “recita- 
tion” altogether. 

The  assumption  in  defining  “curriculum”  is  that  eventu- 
ally every  high  school  will  design  and  administer  some 
genuine  curriculum,  the  small  high  school  often  only  one, 
the  large  high  school  many,  and  different  types  of  large 
high  schools  different  sets  of  curriculums.  It  is  clear  here 
that  the  proposed  connotation  and  usage  of  this  term  and 
of  the  term  “course”  below  will  cause,  at  first,  great  in- 
convenience, as  the  custom  is  widespread  in  all  circles  to 
use  “course  of  study”  in  the  four-fold  sense  of  “programme 
of  studies,”  “curriculum,”  “high  school  subject,”  and  also 
of  “course.”  We  are  just  entering,  as  is  pointed  out  above, 
an  era  of  curriculum  building,  curriculum  thinking,  and 
curriculum  controversy.  It  is  a critical  period  in  high 
school  development.  Proponents  of  general  and  of  voca- 
tional high  school  education  often  do  not  understand  each 
other.  College  and  university  faculties  do  not  understand 
the  demands  of  high  school  principals  with  reference  to 
entrance  requirements;  and  these  principals  do  not  under- 
stand the  conclusions  to  which  these  faculties  come  in  their 
academic  discussions  of  this  question.  If  “curriculum,” 
“high  school  department,”  “course  of  study,”  “high 
school  major”  or  “minor”  and  other  such  terms,  reflecting 
clearly  actual  school  practise,  should  mean  approximately 
the  same  thing  in  our  printed  catalogues  and  other  edu- 
cational literature,  and  if  our  educational  journals  could 
all  adopt  this  elementary  framework  for  necessary  dis- 


1915] 


High  school  terminology 


245 


cussions  of  these  fundamental  issues,  it  is  more  likely  that 
we  should  get  somewhere  in  our  teachers’  association  meet- 
ings and  local  conferences,  and  get  further  in  our  practise 
and  in  the  institutional  cooperation  of  school  and  college. 

The  term  “department”  here  is  temporarily  rescued 
from  its  ambiguous  use  in  certain  legislation  on  vocational 
education,  and  is  adopted  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
it  is  an  administrative  unit  and  that  its  meaning  in  high 
school  administration,  from  the  nature  of  secondary  edu- 
cation, must,  as  with  “major”  and  “minor,”  convey  a 
meaning  quite  different  from  “college  departmentalism,” 
certainly  in  the  large  majority  of  high  schools. 

An  “extra  credit”  has  reference  entirely  to  high  school 
graduation,  a “credit  unit”  refers  to  the  evaluation  of 
high  school  work  by  higher  institutions.  High  school  gradu- 
ation and  college  entrance  standards  may  or  may  not  be 
identical.  The  very  difficult  questions  of  the  “unit” 
and  “credit  unit”  values  of  the  9th  and  loth  grade  work, 
as  compared  with  the  nth  and  12th  grade,  or  of  the  effect 
upon  unit  value  of  work  done  in  “allied”  subjects  upon  a 
credit  unit  in  a given  subject  in  this  group  or  of  the  differ- 
ent “unit”  and  “credit  unit”  values  of  different  qualities 
of  work  (as  designated  by  “marks”)  can,  in  these  prelim- 
inary suggestions,  be  barely  mentioned  as  a problem  later 
to  face. 

“Units  of  instruction”  is  introduced  and  so  defined  as 
to  give,  thru  official  recognition  and  sanction,  some  basis 
for  high  school  classroom  supervision.  If  teacher  and 
supervisor  are  essentially  in  agreement  as  to  “units  of  in- 
struction,” supervision  of  teaching  becomes  possible.  This 
evaluation  of  subject  matter  of  courses  in  terms  of  class 
period  time  is  one  of  the  first  steps  toward  standardization 
of  high  school  courses.  This  “unit  of  instruction”  is  de- 
fined at  the  risk  of  introducing  confusion  because  of  the  great 
need  that  the  attention  of  school  men  be  drawn  to  the  super- 
visory practise  it  suggests.  The  suggestion  should  not  be 
interpreted  as  advocating  necessarily  the  same  units  of 
instruction,  and  time  values,  for  different  teachers  of  the 


246 


Educational  Review 


[March 


same  course.  It  merely  means  that  no  course  should  be 
conducted  in  disregard  of  this  principle. 

Several  of  my  cooperating  critics  among  the  state  super- 
intendents do  not  wish  to  restrict  “graduation”  to  the  com- 
pletion of  15  units.  They  think  those  completing  work 
in  two-  and  three-year  high  schools  should  be  allowed  to 
“graduate.”  This  paper,  notwithstanding,  advocates  the 
restriction  suggested  in  the  definition  above,  even  in  case 
the  “junior  high  school”  should  become  an  established 
feature. 

The  common  confusion  from  interchange  of  usage  of 
“marks”  and  “grades”  is  famihar  to  all  school  men.  The 
usage  suggested  is  proposed  as  a corrective. 

“Pupils”  rather  than  “student”  or  “scholar”  seems  to 
be  the  decided  preference  of  the  large  majority  of  high 
school  principals  and  teachers  as  the  characterizing  term 
to  apply  to  their  charges,  and  is,  therefore,  here  recom- 
mended. 

Attention  may  well  be  called  to  the  attempt  to  describe 
“commercial  education”  in  broader  and  more  Hberal  terms. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  many  state  superintendents  inde- 
pendently comment  upon  the  necessity  of  dignifying  and 
also  differentiating  curriculums  supplying  training  for 
different  business  occupations.  It  should  be  reahzed  also 
that  “ teacher- training  education”  in  high  schools  is  a fact, 
with  state  laws  authorizing  its  support  in  a good  number  of 
states, — not  a theory  about  the  functions  of  high  schools. 
This  revolutionary  measure  bids  fair,  if  it  is  more  than  a 
temporary  makeship  in  teacher  training,  to  revolutionize 
the  high  schools  in  extent  of  years  of  schooHng  as  well  as 
in  character  of  instruction  and  “setting”  in  a state  system 
of  education. 

There  is  a feature  of  the  definition  of  “evening  class,” 
which  represents  an  attempt  to  improve  upon  what  appears 
to  be  a blunder  in  the  formation  of  recent  laws  relating  to 
vocational  education  in  Indiana,  Massachusetts  and  other 
states,  in  that  the  character  of  instruction  offered  in  such 
publicly  supported  education  need  not  necessarily  be  re- 


3 0112  062160111 


1915]  High  school  terminology  247 

stricted  in  subject  matter  to  that  dealt  with  in  the  day  em- 
ployment, a law  which  is  working  injustice  already  and  which 
is  defeating  the  vocational  interests  it  was  framed  to  foster. 
The  phrase  “course  of  study”  is  dropt  as  it  now  frequently 
enjoys  the  three  usages  recommended  in  turn  for  programme 
of  studies,  curriculum  and  course  as  noted  above. 

The  writer  suggests  these  restricted  uses  for  the  above 
terms  partly  because  he  believes  they  are  in  the  main  correct 
and  that  they  will  clear  up  certain  obscure  but  important 
current  issues  in  high  school  administration.  The  chief 
reason  for  offering  them,  however,  is  to  arouse  discussion 
and  to  receive  suggestions.  Any  criticisms,  suggested  addi- 
tions to  the  hst  or  suggested  omissions  will  be  seriously 
considered  in  the  hope  that  eventually  some  definite  pro- 
posals may  be  made  to  different  educational  associations 
and  journals,  by  the  adoption  of  which  they  may  contribute 
also  to  clearness  in  educational  thinking,  so  far,  at  any  rate 
as  it  is  concerned  with  the  administration  and  super- 
vision of  secondary  education. 

CharIvES  Hughes  Johnston 


University  of  Illinois 


